BArn owl and chicks screen shot

I was meaning to get this out to you all last week without success. Here is a reasonably recent screen shot of our Mrs P and chick peas from our live web cam.

Something Wet and Wild for the whole week!

On friday next at the Suffolk show Suffolk Wildlife Trust will be celebrating World Oceans day and launching our Friends of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) campaign.

Running in parallel with the petition fish campaign (designed to raise awareness and lobby govenerment later this year for the designation of MCZ's) this new call to action gives people the option to sign up and become a Friend of one or more MCZ.  Friends will be contacted by the Trust's Living Seas team at regular intervals to ask for support with lobbying Government to designate all these MCZs – this may include encouraging Friends to meet with their local MP, for example.  Find out more.

We're on stand 628 of the Suffolk show and they are a number of fishy activities to get involved with including family craft, creating willow fish, marine quiz and touch table. You can also experience 10 giant-sized jellyfish floating around the stand.
As well as the show  see below for our wide range of marine activities and events throughout the county.

Sunday 10th June  Guided beach walk at Sizewell Meet at Sizewell Hall, 9.30am. Free, no booking needed.  Info: Alde & Blyth Wildlife Group 01728 746441

Sunday 1st July  Marine wildlife and coastal vegetation  - adult learning course

Landguard Fort, Felixstowe, 10am–3pm. £25. Book on 01473 890089 or online

Saturday 28th July  Marine wildlife - adult learning course

Carlton Marshes. £15. Book on 01473 890089 or at www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Sunday 29th July  Family event – The Secret Seashore

Landguard, Felixstowe, Manor Road carpark. 1.30-4.30pm. Free. No booking needed

Tuesday 31st July. Something Fishy – children’s activity day for 4-7 year olds

Lackford Lakes, 10.30am-12.30pm. £4 per child.   Book on 01284 728706

Tuesday 31st July. Shoresearch on Pakefield Beach. Family event for all ages

£1 per person. 10am–2pm. Info on 01502 564250.  No booking needed

Thursday 2nd August. Under the Sea – children’s activity day for 8-12 year olds

Lackford Lakes, 10.30am–2.30pm. £6 per child. Book on 01284 728706

Wednesday 8^th August. Commotion in the Ocean – children’s activity day for 4-7       year olds Carlton Marshes, 10am-12pm. £4 per child.  Book on  01502 564250

Thursday 9th August. Sharks – children’s activity day for 8-12 year olds.

Carlton Marshes, 10.30am-2.30pm. £6 per child.  Book on  01502 564250

Thursday 9th August. Underwater Mystery – children’s activity day for 6-10 year olds

Foxburrow Farm, 10am-2pm. £6 per child.  Book on 01394 380113

Sunday 16th September. Beach clean at Pakefield – family drop in event

10am-1pm. Free event, no booking needed. £1 for crafts

Saturday 22nd September. Coastal guided walk. Meet at Shingle Street 2pm. Free, no booking needed. Info: Woodbridge Wildlife Group 01394 411237

Wednesday 10th October. Secret Seas of East Anglia – talk with Rob Spray Leiston United Church, 7.30pm. No booking needed. Alde & Blyth Wildlife Group 01728 746441

Sunday 21st October. Suffolk Heritage Coast – talk Lackford Lakes, 7.30pm. £2.50,

no booking needed.  Info: Bury Wildlife Group 01284 827068

Tuesday 30^th October. Shoresearch on Pakefield Beach. Family event for all ages

£1 per person. 1pm – 4pm. Info on 01502 564250.  No booking needed

Barnes Construction sponsor live barn owl web cam

Beaming to your computer, live from Redgrave & Lopham Fen (When our very rural broadband connection is up to it!) you can now watch ‘Mr & Mrs P’ and their baby chick P's with some stunning footage from within their nest box.

This pair of barn owls have made it their home for the second year running, having successfully raised four barn owl chicks last year.  The owls have  been unofficially named after Steve Piotrowski, the Trust’s resident barn owl expert and pioneer of barn owl conservation in Suffolk.
So, get involved, keep an eye on our barn owls and let us know in the comments section if you see anything interesting. We hope to share many special barn owl moments with you.

This has been made possible with the techy wizardry of Wildlife Whisperer and kind financial support from Barnes Construction.

So wow your friends and family this weekend whilst having a barbecue, spending time in the garden or putting your feet up with this addictive and essential viewing.

iSpying barn owls

Bringing back Suffolk’s barn owls

Help us bring back Suffolk’s barn owls by adding your barn owl sightings to our new interactive online map. Suffolk Wildlife Trust will use the information gathered through this site to:

• help expand the range of barn owls
• to target nest box installation
• and provide habitat advice where it is most needed

Suffolk’s barn owls

Barn owl numbers have declined markedly in the UK since the 1930s. Suffolk records for 1985 show 150 breeding pairs, all nesting in farm buildings or in natural sites such as hollow trees. By 2005, there were thought to be around 125 pairs, restricted almost exclusively to north-east Suffolk. The lack of natural nest sites was highlighted as the critical factor limiting their breeding success.

Since then, Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Suffolk Ornithologists Group have worked with community groups and landowners to install over 1,000 nest boxes in areas where there are known or historic barn owl populations. Nest box checks from the 2011 breeding season found 192 breeding pairs in boxes.

Something wild for the garden?

With the rain holding off this weekend this is an opportune moment to get things done around the garden - your own personal nature reserve.

I have managed to encourage a pair of goldfinches into my garden by simply perservering with a feeder full of niger seed - they've just found it -  and the bird box situated under the eaves of my childrens playhouse has encouraged a pair of nesting blue tits. Simple additions like these have brought a new world of learning and discovery at our breakfast table.

There are several plant sales happening at Trust centres over the next fortnight with local enthusiasts and experts on hand to help you make the right choice.

Sunday 6th May - Lackford Lakes - 10am - 4pm
Sunday 13th May - Foxburow Farm - 2pm - 4pm
Sunday 20th May - Upper Abbey Farm, Leiston - 10.30am - 3pm

We also provide advice on a number of ways to improve wildlife in your garden or business grounds with our range of online factsheets.

If we connected everyones gardens in the UK it would amount to an area 7 times that of greater London linking wildlife to the wider countryside so go and find your green fingers in the shed or greenhouse, and take in the splendour of Spring on your doorstep this weekend.

Celebrating your businesses natural environment

Has your business created a workplace garden for staff to enjoy and wildlife to thrive in?

The Wildlife Trusts and Royal Horticultural Society are running a competition to reward those who turn their gardens into wildlife havens. The Big Wildlife Garden includes a Business category and there is still time to enter at www.bigwildlifegarden.org.uk – entries close on Sunday 20 May. You can enter the Business category if you are a business with your own workplace wildlife garden.  Winners will receive two tickets to the prestigious RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, where the awards ceremony and exclusive wildlife gardening masterclass will be held on 6 July.  They will also receive a year’s membership of the RHS and The Wildlife Trusts, and a plaque for the garden.

The Big Wildlife Garden Competition is funded by Defra.

Something Wild for the Weekend?

Dormice are enjoying spectaculr displays of bluebells and other woodland flowers at this time. They are looking their best right now.

Wherever you live take a visit to one of our ancient woodlands to experience this wildlife spectacle either this week or as soon as possible.

Arger Fen & Spouse Vale - Sudbury
Bradfield Woods - between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
Groton wood - Hadleigh
Reydon wood - Southwold
Bonny Wood - Stowmarket
Combs Wood - Stowmarket
Bulls Wood - Sudbury
Captain's Wood - Sudbourne